Matt Fitzpatrick gets a weight off his golfing shoulders after bizarre error with his driver… as the Englishman enjoys a timely return to form at the Players Championship

From the strangest mistakes came the most timely resurgence for Matt Fitzpatrick, who rediscovered his form and fixed his driver a month before the Masters.

Given his proximity to the lead after two rounds of the Players Championship, the Englishman can now laugh at a mistake that held him back for a year without even realizing it.

The ‘mistake no one knew about’ was shared between rounds here at Sawgrass and was related to an experiment he conducted last February, when the former US Open champion added weights to his clubs.

After trying the new method for a month, he decided to start them again, but forgot to remove a four-gram bar from the handle of his controller. He didn’t notice the oversight until his grips were changed last month and since then his play off the tee has improved dramatically.

“I only have myself to blame,” he said Friday, after adding a three-under 69 to his opening 66. With many of the contenders still in the field, including Rory McIlroy, Fitzpatrick was second in the clubhouse. at nine under par, five behind leader Wyndham Clark, who has gone 65-65 through two rounds.

Detailing the moment of revelation, the famously meticulous Fitzpatrick said: “I took it to Titleist, they took it back and said, ‘Oh, you know there’s a weight in there.'” I almost had a heart attack. heart.

‘Since I took it out I’ve driven it much better. I had it when I won Harbor Town and I won Dunhill (both last year). Maybe he would have won four times if he had taken it out!’

Fitzpatrick’s driving here has been substantially straighter, although it is his putting that has placed him among the leaders of the self-proclaimed fifth major.

After starting on the 10th, he made three birdies and a single bogey on his front nine, before gaining more strokes with birdies on two and three. His only sticking point came in the fourth, when he hit it into the water green from a deep hole for double bogey.

A final birdie limited the damage inflicted by US Open champion Clark, who played holes one through nine in six under par.

Added Fitzpatrick: “I felt like I did everything right; I played solid overall.” I made a couple of putts when I needed to, I handled the ball well and my approach game was good.’

World number one Scottie Scheffler is ominously sitting on eight under par after a 69, but there are doubts over his fitness after receiving on-course treatment for a neck problem.

“I hit a shot on my second hole and felt something in my neck,” he said. “Most of the day I was working to get out of the club.”

A day after his rules controversy with Jordan Spieth, overnight leader McIlroy got off to a turbulent start in his second round. He opened with a bogey, took the shot on the next and then needed to knock a frog off his ball on the green before making bogey on the par-three third. He made up progress with birdies on four and five to get to eight under, only to miss an eight-foot par at the sixth.

Meanwhile, Sky Sports analyst Wayne Riley revealed that Spieth went crazy on him for siding with McIlroy during the first of two first-round disputes.

In both cases, Spieth asked if McIlroy was dropping a ball in the right place after entering the water, and Riley detailed a conversation he had with the American on the 18th hole.

“They asked me to say where I crossed and Jordan went crazy on me,” Riley said. ‘The only thing I can do is answer the question. These temperamental golfers!’